Budgeting the Future

What does Budget 2006 holds for a common man? We saw FM P. Chidambaram delivering his budget on 28th Feb 2006. Nothing more than, "increase in service tax from 10% to 12%" was talk of the town among majority of the individuals. What went unnoticeable was the reduction in excise duty on small cars, which could badly impact the lower middle class and below, in the near future. This reduction would spruce up the demand for small cars, increasing the demand for fuel. Last year we saw fuel prices increasing as faster as Indian Stock Markets. Fuel prices are the key and important deciding factor for pricing necessary commodities.

E.g. Increase in diesel prices, push's up the transportation cost and thereby increasing the prices of commodities being transported. Though FM has made an attempt on reducing the excise duty on processed food, it anyway won't affect the lower middle class. Since, they form the least population who buy processed food. FM should seriously think about it and come up with a policy that would protect them from being dejected or left out from the budget.

Real estate greenfield - Pune

Over the years Pune has outgrown as a hot IT destination. Given the mount-top salaries enjoyed by young software professionals, it has zoomed the property prices. A place costing Rs.1500 in area like Kalyani Nagar now quotes at around Rs. 2700 - Rs.3000 per sq. feet. That's almost a 100% appreciation in a year's time. Kharadi is an fast upcoming area, which looks good from the investment perspective. I guess this area would fully develop in a span of 4-5 years. Only disadvantage that it has is, it is 9-10 kms away from the station. But, folks who do not have much to do with plying to station area frequently can seriously consider this option.

To me Alandi road area near RTO also looks good. It has Golf Course in it's vicinity. Pune station is just 5 kms away while Shivajinagar, Deccan and Kalyani nagar are almost at 3 kms distance. If you are planning to drive down to Mumbai, it has a more convenient route to follow to the expressway. And last but not the least, even the rates are not too high, given the openess and the location that it enjoys. Military establishment called ‘Bombay Sappers’ surrounds this area. This won't allow much of a construction activity while retaining it's natural aesthetics. People from Mumbai can definitely consider this for investment.

A job or a career?

Pankaj Bhargava from TNN, for Economic Times wrote :

Even today, in most homes, the emphasis is still on being educated enough to get a primary qualification, like engineering or medicine.When I hear such discussions, I remember a story I read many moons ago. In short, it was about two lads in a village.

One went on to complete his education, got a job in a government organisation and was well regarded. His job, however, never excited him and he would drag himself to work everyday, coming to life only when he reached home. By his mid-forties he looked as if he were in his fifties. The second lad did not complete his education, and went on to work with a mechanic. He was not well regarded in his village.

But, he enjoyed what he did. He keenly observed all that happened in the shop, interacted closely with customers and understood their issues. He also learnt to identify defects and find ingenious solutions to them. His reputation as an ace mechanic grew. He managed to set up on his own and soon collected a large clientele. Whenever anyone met him, he would be extremely cheerful, enjoying every moment of his time. In his mid-forties, he still looked thirty.

So, is education about learning in the formal system or is it about learning continuously from life?

This is very true, atleast for a developing country like India where formal education is still considered a top most priority without giving a second thought to something more than that.